Moroccan Wine: Important Revenue-generating Activity Threatened by Taxation

Marrakech- Morocco is the second largest producer of wine in the Arab world. Wine production in Morocco began with the Phoenicians and the Romans.

Following Morocco’s Independence in 1956, the wine industry declined as vineyards were nationalized. Later King Hassan II allowed foreign winemakers to pay for vineyards on a long lease, and winemakers, mainly French, began to restore Morocco’s wine industry to its former glory.

The wine industry now employs at least 20,000 workers. Brahim Zniber established Morocco’s first accredited Domain at Chateau Roslane, and the best wine area in Morocco is considered to be the Meknes region. Cool mountains and sea breezes mean that grapes do not overheat in the vineyards, and render Morocco an ideal place for wine cultivation. Morocco is now producing high quality wines which are beginning to win export markets in the United States and Europe, though the majority of wine is still consumed in Morocco.

As reported in Morocco World News, alcohol sales on the legal market fell by almost 18% between January and August 2014. With a 46% drop, wine was the category most affected

A sales drop by nearly 50% for Moroccan wine in the home market is counterproductive for the Moroccan economy. Years of investment and effort have gone into developing Morocco’s fine vineyards to a point where Moroccan wine is now finding favor in important export markets.

As well as threatening jobs and investment there is also a serious impact on tourism. For Europeans and others having wine with a meal is part of the pleasure of enjoying Morocco’s fine cuisine. With rising prices for alcohol at a time of global recession, tourists may well go elsewhere for their holidays to Spain for instance which is enjoying a revival in its tourism industry.

Sales in restaurants where the tax adds more to the cost of a bottle of wine are likely to decline as restaurant owners are forced to increase the price of a bottle to preserve their mark up. Morocco risks losing the important advantage it has gained in rising tourism figures.

Morocco permits alcohol sales, but it is not permitted to be sold to Muslims. Yet many Moroccans like to drink wine and do so. They are free to buy it in supermarkets such as Acima and Carrefour and in many shops.

If the Moroccan government wanted to ban sales of wine to Muslims it could do so very easily by following the procedure used in Ramadan where a purchaser has to identify himself as a non-Muslim by presenting his identity card.

The fact that Morocco does not do this at other times of the year evidences a liberal policy on wine sales in line with countries like Jordan and Lebanon, and is a sensible compromise. No one after all is forced to drink wine if he or she does not want to. Moderation and compromise has so far been the secret to Morocco’s success.